Bake a Building

I went to St. George’s Market today for an event put on by the Ulster Architectural Heritage society. It invited people or groups to bake cakes shaped like famous historical Belfast buildings. This is Stormont House:

This is Queen’s University:

This is Castle Ward.

And the bakers who made it:

This is the Crown Bar:

This is Shipquay Gate in the Derry City walls:

This is Mussendun Temple:

These are students from Our Lady and St. Patrick’s College, a grammar school not far from me. They made a replica of Ormiston House.

I thought this event was a brilliant way to draw attention to Belfast’s historic buildings, some of which are in harm’s way as the government is more taken with shiny redevelopment plans than with protecting and restoring built heritage. The final of the Great British Bakeoff is this week, so the timing is perfect. We also got to eat samples of the cakes! Totally my kind of event.
This evening I went to a choir for the first time, a community choir that meets up the hill from me at Gilnahirk Presbyterian. I think the choir performs only a few times a year at nursing homes or community events--it’s more an opportunity for people to come together to sing. Then I went to book club, where we discussed The Siege, about the siege of Leningrad during WWII. I met a lot of lovely people at both events. At the end of the book club meeting, one member invited me to play golf with herself and another book club member on Wednesday.

It’s funny, I’ve lived in this house for four years but it’s only now that I’m making all of these neighbourhood connections. Neighbours Alec and Louise told me about the book club and choir this summer, but both groups take summer breaks so I joined them once they started up again. It’s exciting to make new friends in my own neighbourhood; swing dance, golf at Belvoir, my former church in South Belfast--none of these gave me an opportunity for local connections.
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